REShow: Jason Cole - Hour 1 (5-3-2023)

From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

We got two all-time greats, they're two very different players. Today's guests, NFL writer Jason Cole, professional pickleball player Tyson McGuffin, NFL network analyst Charles Davis, senior writer for NBA.com Steve Ashburner. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Dan Helle. What is up everybody?

Happy Wednesday from Los Angeles. Dan Helle sitting in for Rich and we have the whole gang in here. Brockman, what did I tell you yesterday? I told you it was going to be a 10-point game and Anthony Davis was going to come up huge, right? That's exactly what happened. You had the winner.

You know what? I got one out of two. I'm batting 500.

Yeah, you're all famous. I thought Golden State would win the series. So much hype between the Lakers right now. Anthony Davis was absolutely phenomenal. The Lakers dominated in the paint. They had nobody did Golden State who could keep up with him on either end of the floor and it's something I don't know if he can replicate on a nightly basis over the course of his seven-game series but it's certainly food for thought as you look at the numbers here. LeBron James, guys, more than happy to run the offense through Anthony Davis, to take his shots when they were there, although he did take 24 which was the most on the Lakers. But the lake show now has home court advantage here in the Western Conference semi-finals against the defending champions and I would say it's a confidence boost for them and it's going to go a long way. Listen, they got Dennis Schroeder. They have D'Angelo Russell who contributed 19 points apiece.

They're going to need those guys to continue to step up but it certainly is a great fodder for the talk shows like this one. Are the Lakers back? Are the Lakers legit title contenders? Can they take care of business against the Nuggets if they get past the Warriors? Am I getting way too far ahead of myself, Brockman?

Um, no, no. I mean Chris Mannix came on here, was it last week or the week before, TJ? And he said, oh I think the Lakers are winning the West and I've been saying that since the deadline.

I'm not going to back down from that and he kind of did a victory lap last night on Twitter. Are you going to get that every night from Anthony Davis? It's kind of the question we had about James Harden, even though we didn't talk much about it yesterday, TJ. Are you going to get that from James Harden every night? If you're Philadelphia, are you going to get that every night from Anthony Davis? LeBron had a double-double but like you said, the other guys chipped in.

Schroeder had a nice night. Got some great defense from Vanderbilt. You know, Steph Curry went silent there for about a quarter and a half, second and third quarter before kind of turning it on during that 14-0 run late. I think this is kind of what we're going to see all series. We're going to see, I think, seven games like this. Kind of surprised that the Lakers got the first one but Golden State had just played on Sunday. They had a couple, Lakers had a couple little more extra days of rest and that was probably a factor.

I can't wait to see what the rest brings. I mean, Lakers just stole home court and they've taken control of the series. Golden State now underdogs in the series. Yeah, you know, it's been five years since the last time that LeBron and Steph faced off in the playoffs and that's what we were talking about going into this one.

Is this a legacy series for these two guys even though it's not a final series? And it was Anthony Davis who absolutely stole the show. The best playoff game for a Lakers big man in 21 years. He's the first guy since Shaq in 2004 with 30 points and 20 rebounds in the game. And oh yeah, let's not forget he did have four blocks.

He did have five assists. You know, you look at Anthony Davis in the time that he's been in Los Angeles and it's just been ridden with injuries. In the last three years, he's played more than 40 games one time.

One time. He's finally healthy. He dealt with the injuries this year. LeBron had the injury situation this year. They had the Russell Westbrook situation.

I mean, you turned on sports radio here in Los Angeles for the first four months of the NBA season. And it's always Lakers. But it was Westbrook. You had to get out from underneath this cloud that was Russell Westbrook. Obviously, he went on to do some things with the Clippers and he kind of found his way a little bit. He just wasn't working with the Lakers. But you do have to give them credit for the way they remade the team. Adding D'Angelo Russell.

Adding Rui. Adding Vanderbilt. You look at this team and you look at the pieces and, dare I say it, from a team that was outside of the play-in tournament as late as March 21st during the season, I could actually envision them winning a title, TJ. You know, I'm well known around these parts as a Laker hater. You're the Clippers guy, I know. It's a fact, but how they remixed, how Rob Lowe, I mean, Rob Palenka, remixed this team.

It was incredible to bring these guys in to get out, like, you know, to trim some of the fat and then to bring new parts in. It wouldn't surprise me. And look, we talked about Anthony Davis, Chris. Can he do that again? 23 rebounds is a lot, right? But in the last 45 years of playoff basketball, only Tim Duncan and Anthony Davis have scored 30 points, grabbed 20 boards, had five dimes and blocked three shots.

They're the only two people. So, can you get 30 from Anthony Davis on a nightly basis? He was pretty efficient. Dan, 11 of 19, he was over two from three.

And one of the announcers, I think it was Greg Anthony, even said, like, why is he out? Get down low, like you're getting busy down low. Just get closer to the basket. AD is doing what he needs to do. And look, man, as someone who doesn't like the Lakers, I feel like this is my worst nightmare coming to life, man, because I can kind of see this happen, Chris. And I don't want to see this happen.

No, I don't want to see it happen either, obviously. But they look like a team that can win the West right now. They played like that last night.

And that's kind of all you really, you know, we can really ask for it and really want if you're a Laker fan. Well, that being said, Golden State was a 30-foot three-pointer away from Jordan Poole from tying the game with less than eight seconds to go. So, Golden State not out of this game. They were down by 14. They made a 14-0 run. They tied the game back.

This, we were actually texting back and forth last night. This game was unbelievable to watch. And I feel like this is going to carry over throughout the series. Obviously, they're going to be ebbs and flows and different storylines to every game. But there's no reason for me to believe at this point that the Lakers can't take down Golden State. And there's also no reason for me to believe that Golden State is done.

Yeah. Listen, they still shot 40% from three-point range. It's not like they shot terrible. Now, their field goal percentage from the floor, not as good as we would like to see. But the question for me is, what do you do with Anthony Davis? Who do you put on Anthony Davis? Draymond Green is too short.

Kevon Looney is too slow. And as long as he's healthy and as aggressive as he was, I mean, you mentioned the 23 rebounds. I mean, 30 points is great, right? Anthony Davis can go for 30 points anytime he wants. The guy averages 25 for his career.

Yeah, for sure. But 23 rebounds to go along with the four blocks. And then, you know, by the way, LeBron wasn't his most efficient.

He did take 24 shots. But there's going to be games in this series when LeBron puts up those Anthony Davis-type numbers. And I said this yesterday, for LeBron and the Lakers to be successful, they need AD to do what he did. And they need LeBron to have a triple-double-type performance most nights, just to be a facilitator, to score as much as needed when he's called upon. Yeah, you know, he didn't have a triple-double, but he did have double-digit rebounds. He had 22 points. And then you had the role players chipping in as well. I was really impressed by Schroeder and D'Angelo Russell with the way that they played. I mean, you're going to have games where Austin Reeves... Basically, you look at Rui, you look at Schroeder, you look at Russell, you look at Reeves. You need 50% of those guys to score 15 or more, in my mind.

Makes sense. The thing is, Reeves only had 10, but he had eight in a row in the third quarter. Kind of a huge stretch and a huge moment in that game. And then that lobby through the LeBron was sweet. Yeah, that was nice. Yeah, he's a lot of fun to watch play. We're going to be talking a lot about the Lakers.

We're going to be talking a little bit about Aaron Rodgers, who had some interesting comments saying that... I mean, when was the trade completed? A week and a half ago? Yeah. It hasn't even been two weeks, right? No, it hasn't not been two weeks. So Aaron Rodgers, the good news is that he's going to be at more than half of the offseason workouts. More than the bad news is he's going to be missing up to 49% of the offseason workouts. I don't get it.

I don't understand. And I didn't look this up. And I don't remember when Brady went to the Bucks, but it was a little bit of a different situation because of COVID, right? First season Brady was in Tampa was the COVID year, if I'm correct. Yes, yes, yes. Remember, he was working out in high school. Yeah, he was working out with the guys, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just don't understand the mentality from Aaron Rodgers.

Well, yeah, I'll go to more than half. They're bringing in Randall Cobb. That came down today. Allen Lazard is there, now one of four former Packers, including a backup quarterback that they've signed there with the Jets. And we'll get into this a little bit with Jason Cole, who's going to be coming on in about 10 minutes from Outkick. And maybe I'll even ask Charles Davis, who's going to be on as well, what he thinks about this. But I just wonder, as a coaching staff, as a teammate, how do you feel when you hear Aaron Rodgers say, eh, I'll be at more than half? Because to me, it means I'm going to miss almost half, right? Like, that's the way that I read it when I hear that. But this is the guy that's supposed to be helping Nathaniel Hackett install the offense, helping these guys get acclimated.

Or am I overthinking this and does it not matter at all? Because the guy's nearly 40 years old and he's been around for a long time. And, you know, the old lead by example thing, that's thrown out the window. Who cares about that? Well, Dan, but like when it comes to that, yeah, he's 40 and all that, but it's a new team, new playbook, even though he's got his old OC, like timing kind of matters, right?

Getting some type of cohesion with your team, working on chemistry. Isn't that important as well? It's hugely important. And it actually, it bothers me to hear him say that. And, you know, if I was the Jets, I might just say, I'd just nudge him. You know, you want to, you don't want to alienate him already, because we saw how things went in Green Bay last year. But I would give him a gentle nudge and let him know that it's pretty important to be at the voluntary off-season workout.

I don't think in terms of his own physical readiness for the season, it matters that he's there. But TJ, like you just said, it's working with the guys. It's getting on the same page. It's getting that familiarity. That's one thing he didn't do the last couple of years in Green Bay. And then you kind of saw that they had issues with all the young receivers early on. You had to kind of, you know, how Shaq used to play himself into shape. Rogers had to play himself into the game.

He had to play into shape. Rogers had to play himself, you know, into getting some, some cohesion with these young guys. Like you saw it with Christian Watson last year and Romeo Dobbs. And I'm, I'm kind of shocked to new new scenario with the Jets. Obviously he's got a chip on his shoulder this year, kind of playing for spite a little bit, I think. And you think he'd be there kind of 24 seven getting on the same page with these guys.

So they go week one with no speed bumps. Yeah. I wish I could say I was surprised, you know, unfortunately it seems like the last few years, Aaron Rogers has been about Aaron Rogers and two years ago, the Packers benefited from that the year before the Packers benefited from that last year.

Not so much. And maybe he wasn't a hundred percent healthy, but I'm going to be interesting to see how things play out there. We're going to have Charles Davis on to rap a little bit about the NFL draft, which we still can't get enough of and get his take on that.

Will Levis slide. Charles, of course, has called the Titans preseason games to me for the last few years, the number two team at CBS with iron eagle and a major part of that NFL network draft coverage with a rich and Daniel Jeremiah and company as well. Did you guys see the story staying in the NFL with a former NFL player about the arena league team and Antonio Brown? So is he the owner of that team?

Yes. He's the owner of the team. And apparently less than two weeks after taking full control, they were already having payroll issues. And there were guys that went back to their hotel room after a game who were unable to get into their hotel room because the bills hadn't been paid. So AB went to Twitter to try to recruit some new players, and he sent out the the alert tweet that they had found some guys. Yeah.

So did you see the video a few weeks ago? He's the owner of the team, right? He's on the field and security is trying to kick him off the field. And the guy's like, no, get off.

Like, how do you not know Antonio Brown? And he's trying. And to AB's credit, you know, he tends to be a hothead sometimes. He pretty much kept this cool, but it was just like this guy literally followed him and just was like, get off the field, get off the field. He's like, I'm not getting off the field. Like I'm with the team. And that could have went south real quick.

So I gave him credit for, you know, not swinging on that guy. We always have to deal or we've always seen those over zealous security guards. There was actually a funny little skit that I can't remember who put it out there. It must have been Omaha Productions because it was an Eli Manning bit where somebody was coming to visit him at giant stadium. And they had our old pal Sean O'Hara as the security guard, uh, just running them through the ringer.

I wouldn't let him through security. Didn't know who they were and, uh, they handled it well. They handled it well, but you know, there are times when it's the old, uh, you know, it depends, I guess, on your level of fame. Certainly I've never reached that and never will, but the, do you know who I am situation AB actually told the security guard in that particular situation.

Um, this is my field. I own the team, but so here, here's a tweet from, uh, dove Kleinman who, uh, tweeted about Antonio Brown since he bought the arena football league team in Albany has illegally used NFL footage for commercials hasn't paid players and coaches locked out players of hotel rooms who were disgruntled and players of Quitter been suspended, including last season's MVP. Is that on the owner of the team though? Isn't that like, so you should have like, that shouldn't be like the owner paying the hotel bill, right? There's people, but if you're the owner of positions, but if you don't have the funds, you're the owner.

If the team doesn't have money, that's not the owner. I mean, okay. Yeah. We don't need to go too far back in recent history to, uh, to look at what's gone wrong with, uh, with Antonio Brown, certainly some, some, uh, scenarios up there with, uh, his arena football league team. And I believe it's Albany.

Um, yeah, I don't know if I'd be too comfortable there. And this is coming from a guy who worked for the, uh, now defunct AAF for seven weeks for essentially free. That's right. Right. I got Robin and Dan's face. I think you should pay Dan.

Did you get paid? Yeah, he did. Dan. Oh yeah. Well, cause I was like, you were white. He was the face. He was doing unbelievable. So walk me through this. I want to know how this worked. So essentially I got paid cause I was going all, I mean, we were probably going all the way to championship too, but I got paid because they were paying us like literally week by week.

Yeah. You guys were probably different than we were because of obviously company. No, we were not different. And I'll tell you, it was interesting. What happened with that is we were getting paid week by week. And about five weeks into the season, uh, I had a chat with the gentleman who's a good friend of ours who was running it. And he goes, well, let me, this is when I knew things weren't going well.

He goes, let me, let me make sure you at least get paid for a week. And I'm like, what does that mean next week? They're gone. I remember sitting and I did the Johnny Manziel game, which was like the last game.

He came in the play and all of a sudden they're like, we're going to Orlando the next week for like whatever they're like, Oh, we ain't going anywhere. It's done. Yeah.

We're like what? Well, that was the beginning, right? I lost a week. I got, I lost a week at that actually, which is, Oh, there's still, I still get mail for the, the, the, the lawsuit and the bankruptcy all the time.

So that's, that's, that's a long way. That did not work out well for Charlie Ebersole, but it was the beginning of, it was the first alternative league that we've seen in quite some time. And then you have the XFL and then you have the USFL and I have not watched a ton of those. I must admit, but it is a good opportunity for these guys. I just saw, I believe it was Denver who signed the XFL sack leader to a, to a free agent deal. They're going to be coming to camp.

So that's good for them. We have a lot coming up and I didn't even talk about Tyson McGuffin. Talk a little pickleball here.

When rich is away, the kids are going to play. I love me some pickleball. Tyson McGuffin is the bad boy of pickleball. And we're going to get his take on some of these professional pickleball leagues that a lot of people, Kevin Durant, LeBron, Mark Cuban, they're all investing in.

It's the fastest growing sport in America. So pickleball coming up an hour or two, the bad boy coming up after this. Men, do you get distracted during the day thinking about your underarms, sweating, itching, or emitting an odor? Do those thoughts keep you from showing care when it counts? New and improved Dove Men Plus Care Antiperspirant with 72 hours sweat and odor protection and one quarter moisturizing cream helps you forget about your underarms so you can be present for the moments that matter.

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He's not really hitting both through the screws. Plus local podcasts like Believe in Astros and Believe in the Bronx. You're going to have to get some more innings out of the rotation. Just search BLEAV Podcast wherever you listen. Dan Helle filling in for Rich 924 on the west coast and we are pleased to be joined by Jason Cole, NFL writer for OutKick.com, pro football hall of fame selector and author.

Jason just wrote a new book. We'll be getting to that in a moment, but pro football hall of fame electoral. There aren't even 50 of you, are there? I think we're at 49.

We're tipping the scales. We're almost at 50, but no, there's not a lot of us. Not like baseball and I have no idea how many people are in the basketball hall saying probably a lot because they put a lot of people in. They do put a lot of people in. Is this something that you still look forward to and enjoy every Super Bowl week or is this something that can be tense and emotional when you're in the room arguing for a player to get in?

Well, I mean, it's both. I mean, I look, there is nothing that I take more seriously, not because it's myself, but because it's so important to the game. There's nothing I take more seriously than trying to make sure that we vet the candidates properly and put the right people in at the right time. And look, there are no bad candidates.

There are varying degrees of good to great, obviously. Every year I make sure that I survey at least 400 people who played or coached or personnel people for at least a couple of decades in the NFL, who have a lot of experience in the league, saw a lot of people play. And that takes a couple of weeks to do that in advance of the vote. And then you're spending nine hours on a vote. And yeah, it is tense sometimes. And you do have some rough arguments and you do have to sometimes bring up sort of subjects about great players, right?

And you're picking apart people. So yeah, it's hard. It's really hard, but it's gratifying because at the end you know that you played a small part in changing somebody's life. So like I covered Zach Thomas for most of his career. And when I was watching the special that you guys do on NFL Network, you know, the knock on the door, and I see Zach break down in tears in that one, like that's really, that's really, really touching to see that happen. And I can't really describe in proper terms how emotional that was for even for me. And I know how emotional it was obviously for Zach. Well, well deserved for Zach Thomas. You probably don't remember, but back when I was a young reporter, I worked for a TV station in West Palm Beach and would go down there during that Zach Thomas, Jason Taylor, Jay Fiedler era in that locker room.

And he was always kind of the glue obviously for that defense, a very good defense at the time. You said you, you surveyed what, 400? At least 400 people.

What's the survey? Do you send them an email? Do you give them a phone call, shoot them a text message?

We're text messaging message at this point. I used to try and do them all in like phone calls or emails and it just, it's just too, it's too time consuming. But I try and do that because you don't want the bias of, okay, I've got, you know, 10 or 20 people that I really trust. Yeah. Like there are people that I'm closer to than others whose opinions I value, you know, whether it's a guy like a Bill Belichick or a Bill Polian.

But you don't want their own biases to creep into what you do. And so you want to, you want to make sure you diversify as much, but yeah, it's by text message. Now, like the first year I did it, was it 11 years ago? It was the year that Warren Sapp went in and Mike Strahan, you know, just barely got cut. And so that, that first year I did like 65 or 66, I remember. And that was, that was hard because I was doing them face to face, you know, going to the senior bowl, going, you know, walking around the Superbowl week, you know, run into people that I thought were qualified and then it grew and it grew. And then it was like, look, dude, I need a, I need a, I need a phone number cause I got a text here. I can't do this.

And the other thing is I don't want the bias of long discussions to creep into it as well. Uh, I am fascinated by the pro football hall of fame process and, uh, the draft also fascinating this year, 43 trades made 14 quarterbacks drafted. And I would say the NFL succeeded with the help of the general managers of making this a drama filled draft. The biggest surprise for me was just the fact that the Texans were able to keep it quiet, that they were going to draft CJ Stroud with the number two overall pick. And then of course they trade up to number three and draft will Anderson Jr.

So they get flagship pieces on both sides of the ball there for an organization that is desperately, uh, trying to win some football games. It seems like forever since the Texans have been relevant, what stood out the most though for you in this draft? Oh, Anthony Richardson going at four. Now I'm not surprised because of the kind of, you know, physical specimen, but yeah, I checked this since 1990 of all the quarterbacks taken in the first round, there's only one quarterback who threw fewer passes at the college level than that Anthony Richardson and that's trade Lance. And in this day and age, the ability to teach a quarterback in the off season, when you don't have, you know, as extensive a practice time and you're not, you're not going full speed as much and training camp where you don't get the same kind of reps and in preseason where you're limiting the, the, you know, the exposure you have with veteran players and important players, the process, I'm not Anthony Richardson is as talented as it gets.

He's a unicorn of an athlete and he's an exceptionally wonderful human being. I, you know, I lived in Gainesville, Florida for a long time. I haven't been there for a couple of years, but I know all the people who know him, you know, on an, you know, kind of an adult level because he, you know, he went to the same high school that my sons went to. So I know a lot of people there and I asked about him and, you know, everybody's where there's a really great kid, very mature, but he just hasn't played quarterback. And I also know that the high school program that he played in wasn't very good and I'm being generous right there. This is not like Bryce young who went to modern day in Southern California, which is basically, you know, a small college program where you're, you know, you get very sophisticated coaching and very sophisticated offense. But all that said, I think Anthony Richardson went to as good a place as he possibly could because the owner in Indianapolis can say what you want about Jim Irsa, you know, and the issues he's had and all those kinds of things. But he worked on the personnel side before he took over as the owner from his father.

And so he understands football probably better than 90% of the other owners out there. So he's one guy who has patience, but I just, the process of teaching this kid how to be quarterback, it's, I mean, it's tough. I mean, Peyton Manning threw 1300 passes in college.

Anthony Richardson threw 393. I'm trying to think of another comp of somebody who didn't have that much experience in college. And I can't, I mean, you mentioned Trey Lance, but I'm trying to think of another guy who only was a one-year starter and then went on to have success in the NFL. Well, I mean, Kurt Warner is the great example, right, of a guy, but he wasn't a first round pick. There was never any, there's never any expectation when Kurt first came into the league. So Kurt got to sit on the bench and he got to go play in the world league and throw a lot of passes there. And, you know, he earned his spurs in a different way, right.

Until he finally got his chance. So I'm not saying it's impossible to do this, but when, look, everybody in Indianapolis is now waiting with bated breath for when is Anthony Richardson going to play? Is he going to play his rookie year? Is he going to get in by the second half of the season or is, you know, they're going to wait the full season.

Maybe we'll get him in the second season. Well, if you listen to Jim Risse, he's going to play out of the gates because he wants to see Anthony Richardson out there because he doesn't feel like he can get better as an NFL quarterback by watching from the sideline. It's interesting when you talk to people about this, there are differing opinions.

Absolutely. I think Daniel Jeremiah from NFL network to me probably had the smartest plan, called it a hybrid plan, let him watch four or five games, but then give him double digit starts as a rookie. But when you hear the owner say, I want him out there playing, I think he needs to play to get better. I wouldn't be surprised to see Anthony Richardson start 17 games for the Colts.

I wouldn't either, but I will also say this. Jim Risse can be out on the practice field and see if things aren't that good. Right.

And probably say, and if Streitzein comes to him and says, I don't think he's ready, or they'll say, okay, I get it. Let's not do this. Yeah. And this is not the same thing as Andrew Luck, who threw again through a lot of passes at Stanford or Peyton Manning, who threw a lot of passes in college. Right. It's, it's a different situation.

So yeah, Jim Risse had, they had tremendous amount of success letting those guys play from day one. This kid's not the same in terms of experience. I think in terms of intellect, maturity, responsibility, he's very much the same, but nothing replaces the act of throwing a ball against an all out blitz, you know, against a, you know, a zone cup, you know, a zone blitz scheme coverage. And you've got to change your arm angle at the last second because of the way the tight end is running, you know, is running down the scene. Right.

Or how the slot receiver is running down the scene. I mean, there are just things he has not done and that has, and has not done as much as other people. I always remember saying this about Mark Sanchez, about Mark Sanchez, who had basically two years as a starter at USC. And I told his agent when he came out after the junior year, I said, he should stay one more year. He goes, well, he's never going to be drafted this high. I go, yeah, he might not be drafted this high, but that doesn't mean he's going to be successful.

You want him to go out and have another 400 throws in college and learn the process. And Mark had a decent career, um, you know, butt fumble aside and all the, all the other silly things. I mean, Mark, I ended up having a pretty okay career, but it wasn't what they certainly wanted when they took him was what I think it was a number five overall pick. That was not the plan that the Jets had. Well, and you remember Pete Carroll initially did not agree with him entering the draft either.

Um, but it is hard to argue with a guy that's going to be a top five pick. Let's talk about another Jets quarterback, uh, Aaron Rogers gets his, uh, his Linus, his security blanket, Randall Cobb agrees to a one year deal with the jets. No surprise there. What is surprising to me somewhat Jason is when you hear Aaron Rogers say, I plan on being at more than half of the off season workouts. Does this, does it surprise you at all that Aaron Rogers not going to be there every step of the way with a brand new team and yes, an offensive coordinator that he's familiar with, but a lot of teammates he's trying to get work on this timing and he could miss almost as much as half of the off season workouts. It annoys me. I don't know if it surprises me.

Yeah. Um, yeah, look, I don't get, I like Aaron a lot. I think he's an incredibly bright and obviously he's one of the most gifted passers in the history of the game, right?

There are a few people who can throw a ball like him from different angles, deliver a ball as accurately, all those things that, you know, people have talked about ad nauseam. I don't, but I don't get, are you here to win or are you here to have off time? I, you know, I, and I, again, I, I, I understand guys have their off season.

Excuse me, Dan. Um, but what's really, truly important, especially as you get to the end of your career and you're in a new environment, every single day you're there is valuable to be around the guys and learn them and not only learn who they are as people, but you know how they move as athletes and how you throw to them, how they adjust to things, how they see things. Are you on the same page? And he, I pulled this stuff last year with a new receiving Corps and they weren't on the same page until maybe with the last seven games a year. So yeah, this is annoying to me. Yeah. I would imagine it's annoying, uh, to Robert Sala and the coaching staff as well as the general manager there, uh, with the Jets. Cause I hear it.

It's not, not a big surprise, but same thing. I'm like, come on, man. I mean, you got, you have two more years. You have a, Patrick Mahomes has been to three times as many Superbowls in his short careers you have in your entire career.

And you got a shot here to win another one. Why, why not go all in? I just don't feel like he's going all in. All right, Jason.

And on top of that, this pathway ain't easy, right? You know, talk about, listen, you want, this is not going to be like the NFC North, which you dominated for so many years because there really wasn't that much competition. Like you got to go up against Buffalo, a Miami team. That's, that's, you know, pretty stacked offensively and, you know, Belicheck's in that division. You're going to get out of the division. And then we're not even talking about Mahomes and Herbert burrow.

I mean, like these little things that we talk about are, are so very important. And yeah, this is like Brett Favre at the end of his career. And I know Mike Sherman gave him sort of carte blanche to miss a lot of time in the off season, but, you know, Brett Favre at the end of his career, we take the off season off and I know it drove Mike McCarthy crazy after he took over for Sherman, but he couldn't get far back in the building. And ultimately that cost him some critical games, especially that, you know, that giant's playoff game. And, you know, that, you know, that giant's playoff game that they lost, you know, which, you know, to, to Morgan back home, you know, Eli probably remembers pretty well. Um, you know, that got that role to them to that super bowl. So I mean, I just, I don't get what Aaron Rogers is about right now. Is he about football and being as great as he can, or is he about the personality of being Aaron Rogers? I don't quite get it. Yeah.

Well, I don't think we're going to know for sure, uh, until at least next January, uh, Jason Cole from outkick.com pro football hall of fame voter is an author of eight books, including your latest shut up. Your kid is not that great is the title. And, you know, coming from a guy who has a couple of teenagers and I'm sure everybody in here has already gotten sick of me talking about him. So I, I probably talk about my kids too much, but I say this all the time. Jason, people don't people that you are acquaintances with or don't know that well, the two things they really don't care about your kids and your golf game. So when you're talking about that, nobody gives a damn. So I, I, I'm, I love the title of your book.

Give me a little bit of a background on it. Uh, I was sitting around talking with my agent one day and he's, you know, he's, uh, coaching his kids in like fourth or fifth grade basketball. And he's just talking about parents and they're, you know, talking about, Oh, they want this to be fair in the playoffs. And, you know, what time do they start? I'm like, God, can just parents just shut up and let their kids just go play and just worry about is, are you going to have good pizza after the game?

Right. Like, you know, make it fun for the kids. Cause if you make it fun, the kids will keep playing.

And I just, you know, and we, and in the course of this conversation, we just said, we should do a book about this and what we call it. And I was like, I don't know, this is a little rude and it's a little, a little crass, but it's, you know, it's me, you know, shut up. Your kid's not that great.

You know, stop, stop, really just stop it. And then I just thought of anecdotes for my life where parents got in the way and the biggest, you know, and this really speaks to a lot of parents who I think live vicariously through their kids. I mean, I, I certainly understand, want to pump up your kids and talk about, you know, how, how wonderful are on support them and stuff like that. But this goes beyond it. It's talking about, you know, parents who like they're living their dreams through their kids.

And there's a, you know, there's a very careful line as a parent. You always have to be, um, cognizant of, and so I talked to Tom Brady senior about, and he talked about, you know, when he was like the athletic director of Tom's parochial school team and, you know, the team wasn't very good. They only had two good players. And, you know, I was like, well, did you think about putting them in a new program? And he goes, no, I made sure all the kids who weren't very good played a lot.

So they maybe got better by, you know, by the end of the year. Right. Like that's the way to think about it. Right.

Make sure everybody gets a chance, have a good, good time. And we're talking fourth, fifth grade basketball, you know, like, don't take this too seriously, make it, make it fun. And I remember Jack Elway, when I wrote the biography of John Elway, you know, my favorite story about him is when John's coming out for the 83 draft and debating whether he's gonna play baseball or football. And Jack tells, you know, sports illustrated, and I'm going to sort of screw up this quote, but he basically said the fact I want to preserve in John, the joy of playing ball, because that's where he's going to get his passion. It's not going to come in dollars and cents.

So it wasn't a dollars and cents equation between baseball and football. It was what do you love to do? And I think that that's what parents should really focus in is their kids love to do it. Don't worry about the money. Don't worry about the scholarships. Don't worry about whether they're on the right AAU team or all that kind of stuff. Don't interfere. Make sure they're having a good time because if they're having a good time, they'll keep playing. Well said, Jason Cole.

Words to live by. I will apply them to my two teenage children, my friend. Thanks for coming on. I appreciate the time and good luck with everything in the near future. All right. Thank you, Dan. Take care. Bye.

All right. That was Jason Cole, NFL writer from Outkick.com. I think his thoughts on Aaron Rodgers kind of align with mine.

He's irritated. I can only imagine what the coaching staff and ownership and general manager must think. But this, you know, this is probably understood before they before they swung that trade for.

I think he is the single most talented thrower of the football that that we've ever seen with Patrick Mahomes being a very close one B. But that's just me. We have plenty of time to discuss it. Guys, we're not even an hour into the show. Well, I mean, we got we got all kinds of time. So much time.

But we do have to pay some bills. So let's take a quick break right now. And we are back on the Rich Eisen Show right after this. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show, Dan Helle filling in. You can call us at 844-204-RICH. You can watch us on the Roku Channel, Channel 210. Listen to us on Sirius XM, Channel 218 on Sirius, 202 on XM. Stream for free on the Odyssey app or odyssey.com. We're on Instagram and Twitter at Rich Eisen Show.

Or you can subscribe to our YouTube page, youtube.com slash Rich Eisen at Dan Helle on Twitter. If you have any questions for us in here today with Brockman Del Tufo and T. J. Jefferson Holler putting up a Twitter poll real quick. Oh, we got a Twitter poll. I'm just throwing one up. Who's more likely to come back from down 1-0 after losing the opener at home?

Celtics or Warriors? Well, we know what you hope the answer to that question is. Yeah, I understand. I'm just throwing it out there. I'm just saying your vote. I know both teams lost at home. So we do know that the MVP is going to be back for game two.

Right. Of the Celtics. Should he be back T.J.? I kind of I wish they would have gone the Jimmy Butler route with him, Dan.

To be honest, we stole a game in Boston. Let him get the rest, man. Like, I don't I don't like that, to be honest with you.

Well, you know, he's just chomping at the bit. The problem that I have with it is the injury. I feel like you can play through at times a sprained ankle, which is what what Jimmy Butler is dealing with. But the sprained knee, I feel like is a little bit more a little tougher to tough out, you know, for lack of a better term. It's like a four to six week injury that he's trying to come back. And how long has he been out?

Ten days. Yeah, I don't know, maybe it's easier for a big dude as opposed to a guard who's cutting more and, you know, rolling off screens. Maybe you're asking him to do a lot on defense. He really clogs up the lane. You know, he'll probably be an all defender in the league this year.

So in a weird way, I know this could come back to bite me tomorrow in a weird way. I think it's actually kind of better for the Celtics that indeed plays, especially if he's going to be hobbled. He's going to have to guard Horford in the corner. He maybe kind of stretch him out. That lane opens up a little bit, maybe Tatum and Brown and smart can get to the basket a little bit more than they did in game one. I'm not sure.

I don't know that you're going to, to be honest, I don't know that it's going to matter. I know they haven't looked great in the postseason, but you know, at some point you would expect the Celtics to start playing like the Celtics. And I don't see James Harden going on for 45, you know, for two or three years in a row. I mean, obviously TJ, you know, you're six or seven, a lot of great players.

Yeah. So they did a really great job with them beat out in game one, understatement. I gotta be honest, man. I was completely shocked that they won that game. I didn't, you know, in my heart, you know, you hope heart needs like a 40 point game. I didn't expect it to happen and it did. So again, I, I feel like you stole the win.

Don't play and beat. Do you know what the Celtics are favored by tonight? Seven and a half. Nine. Oh, it's gone up. What? Yeah. It's gone up.

It started, it's open at seven and a half this morning. So why play, why, why play and beat? They were favored by 10 in game one. Oh, that's true.

They were double digit game one. The desert doesn't know everything. Yeah. Well, they know a lot. They know a lot. They know a lot. Game one, Knicks heat total was two 10.

You know what it finished at Dan two Oh nine. They know everything. The totals are the most unbelievable thing for me, especially in NFL games. NFL games are what I'd say the majority of people are betting on, right? It's over under NFLs. Yeah.

Those guys hit the over unders are within two points. I feel like 90% of the time I'm slightly exaggerating, but it is. It doesn't make sense.

No, it doesn't make sense at all. So I do a lot of work with the UFC there. There's this guy's great. He's my favorite handicapper.

His name's Yanni, the Greek Corrales. And I was asking him for some some betting advice and he goes, here's my advice. I'm going to keep it really simple for you. Never bet on a parlay ever. OK. Ever. You're just you're not if you extrapolated over time, you're going to lose far more than you win from parlays. But they're so fun. And if they are fun, but if you're going to bet on multiple games in one bet, do teasers, try to get, you know, tease over the number.

You'll see a number if it's like, you know, if it's, you know, if it's, if it's five and you can get an extra three points, you know, so not that I'm a big better because you can't you can't bet on NFL. I can't bet on UFC legal in California, technically, which is crazy, which is so crazy that that is not legal in California at some point. You would think it will be in the very near future, although it was it was. Do you remember all the ads? It was on the ballot. Yeah, it was on the ballot.

But you remember all the TV ads because you had the big gambling companies, the DraftKings of the world and the MGMs of the world against the Native American tribes here that ran the casinos and had some of the sports book. And I just like to see them get together and maybe just work it out. Can we just work something out?

Just give me an app. Come on. I mean, I mean, 30 states get to do it.

That's what I mean. Like we're out here. And how many of them have sports books in the stadiums? Ted Leonsis has been ahead of the curve for monumental sports owner of the Wizards and the Capitals and maybe soon the Nationals. And there's a sports book in the arena in Washington, D.C., as there will be in, I think, most places in the next two to three years. Oh, yeah, I agree.

And NFL stadiums is going to be I mean, come on. It's the future. You love Lala Kent on Vanderpump Rules. Now get to know her on Give Them Lala. With her assistant Jess. What you did not see is when Raquel arrives and she wants to talk to me, I made her sit in a corner, explain, sat in a corner booth all by herself in the dark, waiting for to talk to you, waiting for me to finish dancing to 50 Cent. It's my birthday. Sit in a corner. Give Them Lala wherever you listen.